


Glitter

by Jake



Series: Soulmates [1]
Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: M/M, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-31
Updated: 2015-05-31
Packaged: 2018-04-02 05:41:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,539
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4048357
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jake/pseuds/Jake
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Courfeyrac had always known he was destined for great things - theatre, comedy, maybe opera (though Marius would possibly disagree with that one), anything that would get his name in lights and a crowd at his feet.</p><p>So it came as little surprise when, on his 18th birthday, words appeared on his left shoulder in a rough, hurried script reading ‘why do you even have a mug full of glitter?’</p>
            </blockquote>





	Glitter

Courfeyrac had always known he was destined for great things - theatre, comedy, maybe opera (though Marius would possibly disagree with that one), anything that would get his name in lights and a crowd at his feet.

So it came as little surprise when, on his 18th birthday, words appeared on his left shoulder in a rough, hurried script reading ‘why do you even have a mug full of glitter?’

Said mug was one Marius had given him that same day; it depicted grumpy cat ‘tasting the grumpy rainbow’, and had been immediately assigned the case of holding glitter for his soulmate. Today it was filled with pink glitter, chosen especially for Courfeyrac’s first day of university, and sat on the desk as it always did while Courfeyrac stood in front of his mirror, examining his reflection.

Shrugging on a blazer over his favourite shirt, he grabbed his backpack from next to his bed, throwing a water bottle and a few chocolate bars in to join the notepads and pens, before tugging it over one arm. With the other hand, he grabbed his mug and headed out of the flat, just catching the elevator on its way down. Inside was a rather short man leaning against the wall, dark curls falling into half-shut but still startlingly blue eyes, and stubble covering the bottom half of his (rather attractive) face. He too was clutching a mug.

Taking pity on the man’s dazed expression and the way he seemed to curl into the hoodie he was wearing, Courfeyrac decided to spare him his early morning cheer (he had been informed in the past it wasn't always welcome), and they travelled down in silence for a few moments before the doors opened again on the next floor and another man wearing a cat jumper joined them, the mug in his hands showing the periodic table. For a moment, Courfeyrac wondered if there was some sort of mug convention at the university he wasn’t aware of, and considered skipping his first lecture to attend. He was about to query this when the new arrival spoke.

“Coffee?” he asked, gesturing to both of their mugs.

“Vodka.” Mumbled the man in the hoodie, pushing himself into a more upright position.

“Glitter.” Courfeyrac smiled, oblivious to the confusion the two of them were inflicting on this student.

The other man nodded and remained quiet and apparently deeply concerned, returning Courfeyrac’s wave hesitantly as they exited the lift, before briskly walking in the opposite direction.

 

The university campus was really quite nice, as was the day, so Courfeyrac was perfectly happy to stroll slowly through the streets with the sun on his face and take in the general atmosphere of where he’d be spending the next three years of his life. As he walked he made sure to look around, marking bookshops and takeaways and other places he’d have to visit sometime when he’d got used to the place. Eyes scanning a blackboard menu across the street advertising pancakes and hot chocolate, he didn’t see the man walking towards him until they’d collided, jostling Courfeyrac’s arm so that the mug showered bright pink, sparkly glitter all over him, the pavement, and the rather attractive man he’d just bumped into.

“Shit, sorry, didn’t see you there.” Cringing internally, he offered an apologetic grin at the man in front of him, whose expression went through a variety of stages before finally settling on exasperation.

“Why do you even have a mug full of glitter?”

Hands freezing from where they were halfheartedly attempting to brush glitter from the (very nice) shoulders of the man, Courfeyrac looked up. He'd been expecting yelling, or complaining, or literally anything except-“What did you say?”

Oblivious to Courfeyrac's internal meltdown, the other man didn’t reply, instead fumbling in his satchel before triumphantly revealing a ripped piece of paper and a pen, scribbling something on it in handwriting Courfeyrac recognized from his tattoo and pressing it into his hands.

“I have to run, I’m already late for class.” He explained hurriedly, though now the exasperated expression one would expect after being showered with glitter by a stranger had been replaced by a widening smile and an affectionate look in his dark eyes. Really attractive dark eyes. With glitter on his eyelashes. Like a glittery angel. “Call me.”

And with that, he was gone, and Courfeyrac was no longer clutching his mug full of glitter, now held loosely at his side, instead grasping a piece of paper with a series of digits and a name that he grinned stupidly at for a full five minutes, before remembering that he too had a class this morning, and it wouldn’t do to be late on his first day, soulmate or not.

 

To Marius (10.29): marius  
To Marius (10.29): marius please i need u  
To Marius (10.30): please help i found my soulmate  
To Marius (10.30): i need u 2...  
To Marius (10.30): ...marry-us  
To Marius (10.32): no but srsly help  
To Marius (10.32): what do i do  
To Marius (10.32): i cant even pronounce his name  
To Marius (10.33): its combeferre  
To Marius (10.33): i think  
To Marius (10.33): his handwritings shit  
To Marius (10.34): but i cant pronounce it marius help me  
To Marius (10.34): ur a language u can tell me how 2 do it  
To Marius (10.34): pleeeeeeease marius  
To Marius (10.34): what if he hates me bcause i cant say his name  
To Marius (10.35): my life will b over  
To Courfeyrac (10.36): courf hes not going to hate you but im in class call me sometime after 11 and ill help okay?  
To Marius (10.37): thnx bae  
To Marius (10.38): wait no u cant b bae anymore  
To Marius (10.38): thnx bro  
To Marius (10.39): brother  
To Marius (10.39): broski  
To Courfeyrac (10.40): COURF PLEASE

 

“So what does he look like?”

Courfeyrac sighed. “Oh he’s beautiful, Marius. The most beautiful person I’ve ever seen. The gods have blessed me. He’s everything I deserve and more.”

“So I’m afraid I don’t know how to pronounce that name. You can ask him though, he probably won’t mind. It’s not like Courfeyrac’s the easiest name in the world either.”

“But I don’t care if he gets it wrong, he’s my soulmate.”

“Look, honestly Courf, if you haven’t put him off by throwing glitter at him, I doubt you’re going to by asking how to pronounce his name. Now I’m going to go to get coffee, and you’re going to stop freaking out about your soulmate. Text him and arrange to get lunch or something.”

“Wait. Idea. I could text him and arrange to get lunch with him.”

Marius rolled his eyes. “Goodbye Courf.”

 

To Combeferre (11.34): hi its courfeyrac  
To Combeferre (11.35): wait that probably wasnt helpful i never told u my name  
To Combeferre (11.35): im the person who threw glitter at u  
To Courfeyrac (11.36): I suppose it’s lucky for you only one person has thrown glitter at me this morning  
To Combeferre (11.37): so far. i mean the day is still young  
To Combeferre (11.37): sorry that wasnt a threat im not going to like get my friends to throw glitter at u or something  
To Combeferre (11.37): i dont know why i would do that  
To Combeferre (11.38): please ignore me  
To Courfeyrac (11.41): Sorry I’m in class at the moment, maybe we could meet up for lunch?  
To Combeferre (11.42): yeah great sounds good where do u want to go?  
To Courfeyrac (11.43): How about the place with the pancakes and hot chocolate you were staring at this morning?  
To Combeferre (11.44): yeah okay cool is 12:30 okay with u?  
To Courfeyrac (11.45): That sounds good, I’ll see you later (I hope you’ll forgive me for asking how to pronounce your name)

 

Slipping his phone back into his bag, Combeferre grinned to himself. This was not the first day back at university he expected. When he first got up in the morning everything was set to be exactly as he thought it would be: he spent half an hour looking for his glasses, showered and got dressed into his favourite jumper and black jeans, lured Enjolras out of bed with the smell of coffee exactly as he had been doing since they moved in a year ago and then headed out to class a little later than he would have liked but leaving enough time to make it if he wasn’t delayed.

And then he literally ran into his soulmate. When his tattoo appeared he didn’t even notice, didn’t spend his entire birthday checking every five minutes like a lot of people did. So when it appeared on his forearm he wasn’t aware of it until his five year old sister asked him what ‘shit’ meant. It was a bit of an awkward dinner and Enjolras found it hilarious but his mum was eventually persuaded that Combeferre couldn’t be blamed for his soulmates bad language. Though, and Combeferre smiled to think it, she would certainly have a few choice words of her own to say to Courfeyrac about being a bad example for children.

For once, Combeferre was actually looking forward to the end of his lecture, and judging by the expressions of the people around him, they could tell. In the last few minutes, he quietly packed up his stuff and sat on the edge of his seat until the professor had finished, ignoring the puzzled glances as he swept yet more glitter from his hair. He was out of his seat and through the door virtually the moment the lecture was over, passing a man with a cat jumper who looked suspiciously at the glitter still stuck to his face.

To Enjolras (12.16): You’ll never guess who I met today?

Really he’d wanted to text Enjolras from the moment he’d met Courfeyrac because while neither of them are the type of people to go looking for these things, he couldn’t deny that he was ridiculously happy that this had happened. However, there was literally no point texting Enjolras in lessons because he’d never reply in a million years, so Combeferre was forced to wait over three hours to tell his best friend some of the most important news of his life.

To Combeferre (12.19): David Tennant?  
To Enjolras (12.20): No? Why would it be david tennant?  
To Combeferre (12.21): Who is it then?  
To Enjolras (12.21): My soulmate  
To Enjolras (12.21): He threw glitter at me  
To Combeferre (12.23): I genuinely don’t know whether that’s supposed to be some sort of euphemism?  
To Enjolras (12.24): Why would it be a euphemism? What would? No enjolras i met my actual soulmate and he actually threw pink glitter at me and it’s still in my hair.  
To Combeferre (12.25): But why did he have glitter?  
To Enjolras (12.25): I don’t know, i’ll ask him  
To Combeferre (12.26): Are you seeing him?  
To Enjolras (12.27): Oh yeah on that subject  
To Enjolras (12.27): I’m at the musain  
To Enjolras (12.27): And I kind of need you to not be  
To Combeferre (12.27): What, why?  
To Enjolras (12.28): You scare people  
To Combeferre (12.28): No I don’t  
To Enjolras (12.29): Okay he’s here i’ll see you later

 

“Hi,” Grinned Courfeyrac, pulling out the chair opposite Combeferre and settling into it. “Uh, it’s Courfeyrac.”

“Courfeyrac.” repeated Combeferre, trying it out, “Combeferre.”

After a few moments of awkward nodding, they picked up the menus in front of them, scrutinising them before a very pretty dark-skinned girl arrived at the table.

“What can I get you?” she asked, smiling.

“Hot chocolate and nutella pancakes.” Grinned Courfeyrac, looking over to Combeferre, who was still perusing the menu.

“I’ll have a latte and a slice of chocolate cake, please.” As the waitress walked away, Combeferre turned back to Courfeyrac. “Are you not going to feel sick with all that chocolate?”

“Probably.” It was then Combeferre noticed that his soulmate was one of those unfailingly cheerful, always smiling at everyone and everything types. 

“Why did you have a mug full of glitter?” In the excitement of actually finding his soulmate he kept forgetting that question, only remembering now since Enjolras had asked.

“Oh yeah. Well basically I like glitter a lot so this kind of makes a lot of sense to me but when I got my tattoo it said why do you have a mug full of glitter and I really wanted to find my soulmate, you know? So whenever I’m likely to meet new people, I have a mug full of glitter with me.”

“So you’ve just been carrying around a mug of glitter on the off chance you’ll meet your soulmate?”

“Pretty much, yeah.”

“Did you not just get disappointed a lot?” Combeferre couldn’t imagine so actively searching for his soulmate, not when there was such a low chance of finding them

“Not really; even if my soulmate wasn’t there you’d be surprised at how many conversations a mug full of glitter can start. It’s the perfect technique for meeting people, I think everyone should take it up. Though I suppose it wouldn’t be so remarkable then, would it?”

They talked for half an hour, stopping only for five minutes so they could eat, before standing to leave so Combeferre could get to his next lab. 

“So.” Courfeyrac hovered awkwardly outside the shop. Across the street, the pavement glittered bright pink.

“So.” Fiddling with his sleeves and looking at the ground, Combeferre kept glancing up at Courfeyrac, who, unlike him, did not have skin dark enough to hide the blush covering his cheeks.

“So, I’m not sure what the protocol is here,” Courfeyrac began, avoiding eye contact, “But I think we’re getting along pretty well, considering we only met this morning and I threw glitter all over you. So I was wondering, if it wouldn’t make you uncomfortable, if it would be alright if I hugged you?”

Raising his head and letting go of his sleeve, Combeferre grinned, “I’d like that.”

It turned out they were exactly compatible, not really surprising being soulmates, and Courfeyrac’s head fit very neatly under Combeferre’s chin as they wrapped their arms around eachother, remaining still for a few moments before pulling away slightly to look at eachother, smiles equally wide. Then, suddenly, Courfeyrac was on his tiptoes and there were lips on Combeferre’s cheek and that was it. That was what Courfeyrac had been waiting for and what Combeferre hadn’t really understood and the point of soulmates was suddenly very obvious. After shy smiles and slightly nervous laughter from the two of them, they eventually nodded and returned to their lives, Courfeyrac to find a new conversation opener and Combeferre to go to yet another class.

To Combeferre (1.05): glitter suits u

Combeferre rolled his eyes and put his phone back into his bag as he reached the science block. This would certainly be interesting.

**Author's Note:**

> courfeyrac's mug: http://a1.s6img.com/cdn/0027/v/12839208_12139616-mugs11_pm.jpg


End file.
